Navigation

Greece, Italy, Albania sign pipeline agreement

The governments of Greece, Italy and Albania on Wednesday signed an agreement regarding a Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project that will deliver Caspian natural gas to the European Union.

The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens in the presence of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

The gas pipeline is expected to transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz gas project in Azerbaijan to Europe and is expected to attract 1.5 billion euros worth of investment to Greece as well as lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs.

The deal was signed on Wednesday by Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy Edmond Haxhinasto and Italy's Economic Development Minister Corrado Passera.

TAP is being developed by Norway’s Statoil ASA, Switzerland’s EGL AG and Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas AG and plans to transport as much as 20 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Turkish border to southern Italy through Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea.